Sounds Complicated (I'm In)
by LadySlytherinII
Summary: Ruby Lucas and Lacey French have hated each other for so long that they can barely remember how it started. It's not until a girls night turns into a game of Truth or Dare that Ruby realizes that she doesn't know Lacey as well as she thinks she does. Written for Red Beauty Trope Fest for the prompt Truth or Dare.


**Author Notes: There's still time to sign up for the Red Beauty Trope Fest! Go to redbeautytropefest on tumblr for details, and keep your eye on the collection page for more tropey fics about our favorite ladies. Fics are due January 30th.**

 **Special shoutout to OnTheCyberSeas for betaing this for me, as well as co-running the trope fest.**

"Granny, I'm heading out!" Ruby called. She tossed her towel onto the counter and left without waiting for a response. Last time she'd waited Granny had made her work another half an hour, and she couldn't do that tonight, not when Emma was counting on her. Besides, she'd barely gotten to see Mulan and Aurora since they left for college. A girls night would do her a lot of good.

She got in her car and started the engine. Aurora and Lily shared a house in the next town over, near campus, which would give her a bit of time to strategize. Emma and Lily were on-again, which of course meant that Emma was confused about the relationship and wanted Ruby to play intermediary. This time, she'd asked Ruby if she could find out whether they were actually dating.

 _They should really learn how to sort out their own shit,_ Ruby thought as she turned onto the freeway. Not that she minded, particularly, but someday she wouldn't be around to get them to communicate and they wouldn't know how to handle it.

After about half an hour, she arrived at the house and rang the bell. Aurora opened the door and immediately threw her arms around her. "Ruby!" she said. "I've missed you so much. We need to see each other more, it's been way too long."

"It has," Ruby agreed, returning the hug. "I wish you still worked at the diner, it's been so boring without you."

"I miss working there," Aurora said. She finally let go. "Come on in."

"Are the others all here?" Ruby asked.

"Everyone but Mulan," Aurora said, leading the way into the house. "She got a text about half an hour ago, I think one of her friends was having a crisis and—well, you know Mulan."

"Yeah, I do," Ruby said. "I assume she drove off on her noble steed to rescue this fair maiden?"

"It was her Jeep, but yes," Aurora said. "You guys, Ruby's here!" she called as they entered the living room. Ruby followed her into the room. Ashley was sitting on a chair and Emma was on the couch, looking awkwardly down at Lily, who was sitting on the ground in front of her. When she saw Ruby, Emma leapt to her feet.

"You're here!" she said, running across the room towards Ruby and dragging her to the couch. "You have got to help me," she whispered in her ear. "Lily held my hand earlier and I don't know what to do about it."

Ruby had to stop herself from laughing at Emma's alarm. "Hi, everyone," she said as she sat down.

"Hey, Ruby," Ashley said. "How's the diner?"

Ruby groaned. "I do _not_ want to talk about work right now."

"Rough day?" Aurora asked. "Did the coffee maker break again? That's always the worst."

Before Ruby could answer, Ashley's phone rang. When she looked at the screen her face lit up. "Oh, it's Sean!" she said. "I should take this, I'll be right back."

Ruby and Aurora attempted to hold up the conversation, but with Ashley gone it was no use. Lily and Emma still weren't talking, but kept casting each other odd looks. After a few too many awkward pauses, Aurora brought out a bottle of white wine, but nobody drank from it. Ruby rolled her eyes. Now she wanted them to talk things through not just for their own sake, but so they could stop making things weird for everyone else.

"So, what's going on with you two?" Ruby blurted out. Emma shot her a glare, but hey, she was the one who'd wanted answers. Lily looked at Emma, then back at Ruby, and opened her mouth—

"I'm here!" Mulan called. The moment passed, and Emma and Lily were once more staring awkwardly at each other. "By the way, I've brought someone," Mulan ended, oblivious to the tension in the room.

When Ruby saw who was walking in behind Mulan, she almost swore out loud. "No," she said, not caring who heard her. "Emma, you didn't say she was going to be here."

"Whatever, asshole," Lacey said, dropping down on the floor in front of her. "I'm only here for the booze anyway."

"No you're not," Mulan said. "You told me you ran into Gold today. When you broke up you got shitfaced for an entire weekend. I'm not letting you get self-destructive like that again." She gave Aurora a kiss on the cheek and sat down.

"Shut up," Lacey said. "You're not my mom."

"Finally ditched that Gold guy?" Lily asked, giving Lacey a playful grin. "Took you long enough."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Come on, like you've never hooked up with an old rich guy."

"Hey, not all of us can be gold-star lesbians like you," Lily snapped defensively.

"You know I hate that phrase," Emma said, looking flustered.

"Good," Ruby said. "It's biphobic as hell." What was Lacey _doing_ here? Yeah, she and Mulan were friends, but people tended to steer clear of inviting both her and Ruby to the same event. The last time they'd been in a room together for an extended period time was at Lily's graduation party last spring, when Lacey had made out with the girl Ruby liked in front of everyone. Before that, it had been school, and more parties, and more school, and—well, the point was, things had never gone particularly well between the two of them.

"Whatever." Lily leaned forward. "So, how was he in bed?"

"Can we please change the subject?" Ruby asked, fighting back nausea. Lacey and Gold was not a topic she wanted to discuss tonight, or ever.

"For once, I agree with Ruby," Lacey said. Her voice sounded strained. "I don't even want to think about Gold right now. Besides, we broke up weeks ago. It's old news." She pressed her fingers to her temples as though fighting off a headache.

Just then, Ashley returned to the room. "Sorry about that," she said. "Hi, Lacey! I didn't know you were coming."

"It wasn't planned," Lacey said.

"Well, I'm glad you're here."

Ruby glared at her and mouthed the word "Traitor." Ashley ignored her in favor of sitting down next to Mulan.

"Has anything happened since I left?" Mulan asked.

"Not really," Aurora said. "I was thinking we could do a movie now that you're here."

"I'm not really feeling like a movie tonight," Emma said. "But if you have any food, I'll take that."

"There are some chips in the kitchen," Lily said. "I bought them for tonight but I ended up eating a lot of them before you guys showed up. There should still be some on top of the fridge."

"I can get them," Mulan offered.

"I'll go too," Ruby said at once. She and Mulan were going to have words, once they were away from the group. _Words._

Mulan led the way to the kitchen. Once they were inside, she shut the door and said, "Whatever it is, spit it out."

"Did you really have to bring _her?_ " Ruby demanded.

Mulan crossed her arms. "She's having a rough time right now," she said. "I couldn't leave her alone. Besides, it wouldn't hurt the two of you to learn to get along."

"Seriously?" Ruby hissed. She crossed her arms. "You brought her here because of a _break-up_? Doesn't she go through one of those every other week?"

"You're one to talk," Mulan said steadily. "Anyway, you don't know her that well, okay?"

Ruby gently kicked the refrigerator door. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you don't know her that well." Mulan's look was almost pitying, as though Ruby were missing out on something important for not being friends with Lacey.

"Fine." Ruby didn't know what to say after that. "I'm still mad at you."

"You'll get over it," Mulan said, smiling. "Can you get those chips from on top of the fridge? They're just a little bit out of my reach."

Ruby got the chips down and returned to the living room with Mulan. "We've got the chips," she said, tossing a bag to Emma. Not wanting to climb over Lacey, she opted to sit down on the floor next to Lily instead.

Mulan slid into Ruby's former seat on the couch. "Any consensus on what we're doing tonight?" she asked.

The room was silent for a moment, nobody wanting to suggest anything.

"We could play Truth or Dare," Ashley said after the silence had stretched on too long.

"Yeah, what could be fun!" Ruby said quickly. "Right, Emma?" It would, after all, be the perfect opportunity to get things sorted out between Lily and Emma.

Lily laughed. "Fun for who, twelve-year olds?"

"Ruby's right," Emma said quickly. "We should do it."

"Oh, that'll be heaps of fun," Lacey said, idly picking at her fingernails. "Ruby and I will never pick truth, and Aurora and Ashley will never pick dare. I can't imagine a more exciting evening."

"There's an easy enough solution to that," Mulan said. "We'll just make a rule that everyone has to pick both at least once."

"Fine," Lily said, glancing backward at Emma. "I guess I'm in too."

"Why don't you go first, then?" Ruby asked. Better to get things out in the open as soon as possible, for the sake of the group. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Lily said. "I don't trust you enough to take one of your dares."

Ruby pretended to think of a question. "Okay," she said, adopting a fake-serious voice. "Lily Page, what exactly are your intentions with my best friend?"

"Well, Ruby," Lily said, putting her hand on her chin. For a moment, there was a nervous look in her eyes, but it disappeared so quickly Ruby wasn't sure she hadn't imagined it. "I'm gonna be honest with you. My current plan involves a two-pronged strategy consisting of romantic evenings and orgasms. That all right with you?"

"So you're together-together, then?" Ruby pressed, wanting to make sure Emma got whatever answer she was looking for.

"Well, yeah," Lily said, looking up at Emma. She bit her lip, the nervous look flitting back over her face. "That is, I'm in if you're in," she said to Emma.

"I'm in," Emma assured her. She slipped down off the couch to sit next to Lily and took her hand. "You know I'm in," she said again."

"Good," Lily replied. She turned back to Ruby. "Then yeah, we're together-together."

"Who's next?" Ashley asked.

"You can be next, Ash," Emma said, leaning into Lily. "We don't have to go in a circle."

Ruby zoned out, focusing primarily on consuming as many chips as possible. She'd done her job for the evening, and now it was time to relax. It wasn't until Lacey picked dare that she snapped back to attention. _This should be interesting._ What sort of dare would they give Lacey, a girl who wasn't embarrassed by anything.

Lily looked around for a moment before speaking. "All right," she said, lips curving into a smile. "Lacey, I dare you to go into my room for Seven Minutes in Heaven… with Ruby."

For a moment, Ruby was too stunned to speak. "What?" she snapped once she had found her voice. "No way."

"Chill," Emma said softly, putting a hand on Ruby's arm. "It's not like the two of you have to actually do anything."

"I'm not going in there with her," Ruby said, knowing she'd be made to go but not wanting to cave too easily.

Lacey had already stood up. "Let's just go," she muttered, reaching out a hand to pull Ruby to her feet. They walked to Lily's room in silence, and for some reason Ruby made no move to pull her hand away. She tried not to analyze that too much.

It wasn't until they got to the bedroom that Ruby let go. She was unsure of what to do with her body, but settled for leaning against the wall. Sitting on the bed would suggest that she wanted something to happen. Which she didn't. _She didn't._

Lacey bit her lip and looked at Ruby for a long moment. "I suppose this will work," she said. She took a step forward and slipped her arms around Ruby's neck. There was still a bit of distance between their bodies but not much. Ruby was close enough to Lacey to smell her perfume, but too dizzy to figure out what the scent was.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked, surprised to hear her voice come out as a whisper.

"Getting ready to kiss you," Lacey said. Her voice was also quieter than usual. "They'll be able to tell whether or not we did anything."

"So?"

"So I don't want them to think I backed out of a dare."

"The dare was to come in here together for seven minutes," Ruby said. "Nobody said we had to do anything."

Lacey took another step forward so there was only a whisper of space between their bodies. Ruby's breath hitched. Then, to her surprise, Lacey let out a small laugh. "I'm not sure you quite _get_ Seven Minutes in Heaven," she said, and then her lips were on Ruby's.

The surprise wore off quickly. There was something that felt so right _right_ about the way Lacey's arms felt around her. Ruby let out a little sigh and put her hands on Lacey's waist, yanking her closer. Lacey's fingers were in her hair, running through it far more gently than Ruby would have thought possible. Ruby stroked Lacey's sides gently, and when her mouth opened in a small sigh, Ruby took advantage of this and slipped her tongue inside Lacey's mouth for a fraction of a second.

The world was spinning. Nothing had ever felt as important as Lacey's lips on her neck, or the way Lacey pressed into Ruby when she placed her hands at the small of her back. She'd have thought that the two of them kissing would have felt more—heated, or angry, but instead it felt wonderful, almost dangerous. When Lacey's fingers ran down her back through the thin fabric of her shirt, she shivered at the touch. Ruby felt as though she were teetering on the edge of a cliff, as though at any moment she might fall to her doom, and she couldn't even bring herself to care.

Ruby didn't know how long they were wrapped in each other's arms. She wasn't thinking about the dare, wasn't thinking much of anything outside of sighs and the touch of skin on skin. When Lacey's arms left her shoulders, Ruby shuddered at the loss slid her hands down to her wrists, wanting the contact back.

Lacey flinched and yanked away.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, her voice slightly hoarse. She looked down to Lacey's wrists, where her sleeves had come up enough that she could see faint bruises circling her arm. For a moment, she thought she may have caused this somehow, that her gentle touch could have wreaked this kind of destruction. But it wasn't her. She hadn't done this. And suddenly, anger hit her like a punch in the gut. "Did he do this to you?" she demanded sharply.

Lacey's face closed off. "We should get back," she said. "It's definitely been longer than seven minutes."

"Lacey, did he do this to you?" Ruby asked again. "If he hurt you, I swear I'll—I don't know what I'll do. I'll fucking kill him. I'll rip his heart out and eat it." _What am I doing?_ Ruby thought dizzily. _She can take care of herself._ But what if she couldn't? Bad things weren't supposed to happen to Lacey. She was supposed to be like Ruby but without the baggage, that was how Ruby could get away with hating her so easily. It was like hating herself. But now there were bruises on Lacey's wrists, and they weren't the same person, and Ruby's world was shattering like the mug she'd dropped at the dinner last week, the one that's replacement cost had come out of her paycheck, and the world was still spinning from the kiss.

Maybe it always would

"Fuck off," Lacey muttered, stalking towards the door and pulling it open. "I don't want to hear it."

* * *

When Ruby and Lacey left for Lily's bedroom, Mulan turned to the others and looked around. "So, while they're busy in there," She said, flashing a smile. "Let's talk about this situation for a minute. Who else is sick of these two?"

"You'd better be talking about how they treat each other," Emma said, crossing her arms. "If you're sick of Ruby in general we're going to have a problem."

"Of course I'm talking about how they treat each other," Mulan said. "They're two of my best friends and I'm tired of having to choose between them all the time."

"What's their deal, anyway?" Lily asked. "They're both really nice to everyone besides each other."

Mulan shrugged. "I don't think even they know what it's about at this point," she said. "They've been like this forever."

"We were all in kindergarten together," Aurora said. "Ruby came in on the first day of school feeling so proud of herself because she'd been able to start reading those books of children's fairy tales, and Lacey laughed and said she'd been reading Harry Potter. Things sort of spiraled from there."

"Lacey was also jealous that Ruby came out so young," Mulan said. "Ruby started telling people she was bi when she was what, thirteen? And Lacey didn't come out until last year."

"Well, that's not Ruby's fault," Emma said.

"No, but it didn't help that Ruby had a super-supportive grandmother and Lacey—well, Lacey didn't." Mulan wasn't sure how much she was allowed to say about Lacey's situation. After a moment, she added, "If you knew her dad you'd understand." If this was saying too much, she'd let Lacey take it out on her later.

"They've just always been really competitive," Aurora said. "And it's only gotten worse as they've gotten older."

"So how do we make them get along?" Ashley asked. "I don't know Lacey that well, but Ruby's stubborn. I've never seen her change her mind about someone after it was made up."

They talked for a while, throwing around ideas, but the only thing they could agree on was that this needed to happen soon, and would probably take no small amount of interference on their parts.

"Okay, so we're orchestrating things. But how do we do that?" Aurora asked.

Emma tilted her head. "I mean, we _are_ playing Truth or Dare right now. We could just make them admit a bunch of personal things. It's harder to hate someone when you know too much about them.."

"They might keep picking dare," Ashley pointed out. "They only have to pick truth once.

Lily shrugged. "No problem. Just keep daring them to make out and they'll get sick of it and pick Truth."

Aurora's cheeks went pink. "Isn't that a bit—obvious?"

"Aurora's right," Mulan said. "We have to do it more subtly than that. Besides, I'm sure we can think of dares that will make them—"

"You're lousy at keeping track of time," Lacey said, loudly reentering the room. Ruby was close behind her, hair falling out of its carefully styled knot. "It's been a good ten minutes since you sent us in there and the dare was only for seven."

* * *

Ruby could barely stand to look at Lacey after what had just happened. She was feeling too much, and none of it made enough sense. Confusion, that someone as strong and fierce as Lacey would let this happen to her. Anger, that Lacey had pushed her away when all she'd done was offer to help. And something that would have seemed like sadness if that wasn't such a ridiculous way to feel for someone she didn't even like.

"Whose turn is it?" Ruby asked, looking around the room. She could keep her cool and get through this, no problem. "Did anyone go while we were in there?"

"No, we decided to wait for you," Emma said. "I think it's Mulan's turn."

The game progressed. Mulan was dared to down a shot of vodka without using her hands. Aurora picked truth, and ended up coming out as demisexual. Emma impressed everyone by doing one-armed push-ups. Ruby managed to avoid having a turn for a good couple of rounds because they weren't going in any particular order, but eventually she had to go again.

"Ruby," Emma asked. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Ruby said. "Might as well, right?"

Emma furrowed her eyebrows as though trying to think of something. "I expected you to pick dare. Give me a sec."

"Don't hurt yourself," Ruby laughed. "I can switch to dare if it matters that much."

"No, it's okay, I've got one. Did you enjoy kissing Lacey?"

Ruby's stomach dropped. For a brief moment, she considered lying. It wouldn't be hard. But then, what if Emma could tell? She'd never been entirely convinced by Emma's superpower, but suppose it did work? And either way, she'd feel guilty for lying. It destroyed the integrity of the game when people didn't answer honestly.

Inadvertently, Ruby shifted and made eye contact with Lacey, who looked as though she might laugh. This was enough to make her want to tell the truth, to rub it in everyone's face that she wasn't embarrassed, that it didn't matter. "It was pretty great, honestly," Ruby said. Her instinct was to speak quietly so she said it loudly instead, with the sort of confidence she was so good at faking. "I mean, it makes sense that we would both be _fan-fucking-tastic_ kissers since we both have so much practice."

"I'll drink to that," Lacey said lifting her mug. When Mulan gave her a look, she glared right back. "It's just _tea._ "

"Just making sure," Mulan said unapologetically. "I'm looking after you, it's what I do."

"Ashley, truth or dare?" Emma asked. Ashley took the dare, and was told to stand outside naked for a full minute. It didn't seem fair to Ruby that Ash got such an easy dare (it was _dark_ out, no one would see her,) but then, this game was never meant to be fair.

When it was Lacey's turn, Ruby could see her hesitate. "May as well pick truth and get it over with," she said.

Aurora frowned. "I always thought truth was the easier one."

"Yeah, but you don't have any secrets," Emma said. "Some of us have things we'd rather not talk about."

Now there was a sentiment that Ruby could agree with. The truth was a heavy thing, so much heavier than the weight of another person in your bed or another party when you've been running yourself ragged. Keep it light, keep it breezy, but don't weigh yourself and others down with the truth. Not when people could up and leave you, taking your secrets and your feelings and all of the love you foolishly poured out with them.

"What should we ask her?" Lily asked, a glint in her eye. "She's gotta have something juicy to spill, right?"

Ruby's eyes flicked to Lacey's wrists. If she brought it up, Lacey would have to tell the truth, or at least a convincing enough lie. She opened her mouth, about to ask, when she caught Lacey's eye and changed her mind. It wouldn't be right. It'd be like someone asking about her mother. There were some places you didn't go, even in a game like Truth or Dare.

"I've got one," Emma said. "Lacey, what do you look for in a potential partner?"

It was such a sincere question that Ruby did a double take. Mulan would ask something like this, or Ash, but Emma? In all their years of friendship, Ruby had never known Emma to be the type who would ask something that could get personal, not if the person hadn't volunteered the information themself.

"Outside of sex, you mean?"

Emma shrugged. "Sex can be part of it."

Lacey frowned, tracing her lip with her tongue in a gesture of concentration. Time dragged on a few seconds longer than it should have before she answered, "I'm not really picky. Just want a good time, I guess."

"There's got to be more to it than that," Mulan said. Her head was in Aurora's lap and Aurora was playing with her hair.

Lacey shrugged. "Not really. I'm not looking for—some grand declarations of love, or whatever it is that the rest of you want. I just like to have fun. I don't want anything complicated."

Ruby couldn't stop staring at Lacey. This was the lie that she herself had told so many times that she almost believed it. Lacey wasn't just like her without the baggage at all. She was a whole other person, with her own fucked-up life who just happened to tell the same lies that Ruby did. How had she gone all this time without knowing that?

"It's not about grand declarations of love," Aurora said. Her hand paused its movement through her girlfriend's hair. "It's about having someone who understands you. Someone who can help you through things when they're hard."

Ruby looked at Aurora with a hint of surprise. "Someone's got a lot to say on the matter," she said, a bit cruelly.

Aurora didn't seem to mind Ruby's tone. She just smiled, looking fondly down at Mulan, and all of a sudden Ruby felt a pang of loneliness. She brushed it aside. "Who's next?" she asked.

They through a few more uneventful rounds before Ruby decided to pick dare again. She waited, as Aurora bit her lip and looked worried as she tried to come up with something.

"Ruby," Aurora said. "I dare you to—" she glanced at Lily as though looking for some sort of confirmation. "Ruby, I dare you to make out with Lacey," she said. She looked down at the end, refusing to make eye contact.

"Are you even allowed to repeat dares?" Lacey asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Well, since the first dare was Seven Minutes in Heaven I don't know if it's quite the same thing," Emma said. "I mean, you two didn't actually even make out in there, right?" Her words were innocent but her tone was not. "So this will be your first kissing dare."

"Let's just get this over with," Ruby said. She walked across the room and sat down next to Lacey. They made eye contact, and for a fraction of a second, Ruby hesitated. Then she was back on the cliff's edge, then she was falling and all she could think about was how damn good things would feel up until she hit the ground.

Lacey's hands were on the back of her neck, and Ruby was so invested in the softness of her lips that she wasn't self-conscious about being watched, even though this was _Lacey,_ and of all the people everyone expected her to kiss, this wasn't one of them. Lacey's lips left hers for a fraction of a second and Ruby worried that he kiss was over, but instead she felt a pair of legs swing over her, straddling her. For one glorious moment Lacey was grinding into her lap, tongue chasing Ruby's into her mouth, and then Emma had to go and spoil it all.

"I feel like that's been plenty," Emma said loudly. "Come on, guys. We all know you're secretly into each other, but enough is enough."

Up until that last comment Ruby had almost been inclined to keep going despite Emma's protests, but when she heard the phrase _secretly into each other_ her insides went cold. Because it wasn't true. She hated Lacey, had hated her since the first day they'd met just like Lacey hated her, and—

She really want to kiss her again. Really wanted to run her fingers tenderly over the bruises left by somebody who hadn't cared enough about Lacey to take care of her the way she deserved. Wanted to hold her, to let her know that it would be okay even if it didn't seem like it right now, to tell her that one day she'd find someone who could handle her. She wanted—

She was so screwed.

Ruby knew she had to salvage the situation somehow. Slowly, she let her gaze run up and down Lacey's body, then winked. "Thanks," she said, as cheerfully as she could before removing herself to her seat, trying to make it seem as though she weren't running away (but she was, she really was).

After a few more rounds, Mulan called off the game. "I think I'm ready to go to bed," she said. "I have a paper due Monday and if I don't get any sleep tonight it's going to be hard to finish on time."

"I think I'd like to get some sleep as well," Aurora said. "How should we—what should the sleeping situation look like?"

Ruby hadn't thought about this, but immediately realized that there would be a problem. Even if they were too shy to admit it, Mulan and Aurora almost definitely would want to share Aurora's bed. Emma and Lily would want to share too, probably. But none of them were admitting it, which meant that she had to be the one to bring it up.

"Why don't you sleep in your own beds if you want to," Ruby said. "You don't need to feel bad about leaving us here."

"Are you sure?" Aurora asked, predictably. "We could all stay in the living room. There are enough blankets if we bring them out."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Mulan, do you want to sleep in Aurora's bed with her?"

"Of course," Mulan said.

"Emma, Lily, do you too by any chance _also_ want to share a bed?"

Emma looked down. "I wouldn't mind," she said. "Only if Lily doesn't mind, though."

"Of course we're sharing," Lily said.

Aurora looked at the others. "What about you three?" she asked.

"We can crash in the living room." Ruby said. "No big deal. Just bring some of those blankets that you talked about."

"And some pillows," Lacey said.

Ashley was looking at her phone. "Actually, it looks like I won't be spending the night," she said. "Sean just found out that he has tomorrow morning off so we're going to do breakfast. If I stayed here I'd have to wake up super early to head back to Storybrooke."

Mulan frowned. "Are the two of you going to be okay staying alone together?" she asked Ruby and Lacey. "I don't want your fighting to keep the rest of us up all night."

"We'll be fine," Ruby said. "Let Ashley go home to her boyfriend."

Mulan shrugged, and walked Ashley to her car while Aurora went to get blankets and pillows. Emma and Lily disappeared to Lily's room.

"I guess it's just us, then," Ruby said when everyone had left.

"I call the couch," Lacey shot back, climbing up onto it. Ruby pulled a blanket over herself and stretched out across the ground.

Ruby was tired, but couldn't fall asleep. After a little while she realized that while Lacey's breathing was slow and regulated, she was still awake too. She thought about taking the bottle of wine that had been left the side table and drinking out of it, but if Lacey wasn't drinking tonight maybe she shouldn't either. As the minutes ticked by, Ruby kept thinking about the question that was still burning on her mind. "Can I ask you about the bruises?" she finally asked.

"I guess," Lacey said, turning so she could look down at Ruby. "I don't see why you'd care, though."

For some reason this hurt, even though Ruby knew she'd have thought the same of Lacey. "I do care," she said, managing to keep the defensiveness out of her tone.

"What do you want to know, then?" Their eyes met, and Ruby realized that Lacey looked different in this lighting, more gentle but also sadder. Or maybe it wasn't the lighting, maybe it was the truce they seemed to have struck.

Ruby mentally shook herself, realizing that Lacey had just asked her question. "How did you get them? Aren't things over between the two of you?"

"Yes," Lacey said. Her voice shook. "I—I ran into him today. He wanted to talk, and I didn't, so he—I don't think he realized how much he was hurting me, but he wouldn't let go. Someone stepped in pretty quickly, though."

"Has he hurt you before?" Ruby asked quietly.

"No," Lacey said. "Not really. It was other things, really. I wanted to leave for a really long time, but I didn't know how to do it. He made me feel special, like I was the only one who understood him. Then whenever he did anything bad, he would tell me that he wouldn't do it anymore because he loved me so much. But he'd always do it again. And he'd get so angry sometimes about little things I did. I was scared of how he'd act if I left."

"But you did leave."

"Yeah, I guess I did," Lacey said. Her voice took on a sad tone. "But you know, things were really good sometimes, too? He'd apologize for everything, and he bought me really nice things. It made me feel like he cared. Once he bought me the Condensed Oxford English dictionary."

"Doesn't make up for doing bad things," Ruby said.

"No," Lacey agreed. "But it made it harder to understand what was going on. When it was good—when it was good I would feel so guilty for thinking what was happening was abuse. Like that something was wrong with me to think something like that about someone who had been so nice."

"So how did you see it?"

"Mulan. She was picking me up after I spent the night with him and she heard how he was talking to me. It was pretty funny, actually. She's usually so stoic, but she just went _off_ on me and told me that I had to get out of there or she'd kill him and then I'd have to deal with the guilt of being responsible for getting a friend sent to jail over protecting me."

"Mulan takes good care of us, doesn't she?" Ruby said. "My mom bailed when I was twelve, and Mulan was the one who got me through it. She really cares about her friends."

"She does," Lacey said. Her voice wavered a bit at the end, and she turned her head so that Ruby couldn't see her.

"Fuck, are you crying?" Ruby asked. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked anything—"

"It's not your fault," Lacey said. "You're not the one who—well, you know."

"Do you want me to— can I—" Shit, this was coming out all wrong. She tried again. "When Emma or I am having a hard time sometimes we cuddle. Do you want to—"

"Ruby Lucas, are you asking if you can spoon me?" Lacey asked, with a sharp laugh. "Do I need to wake the others and tell them how far their hero has fallen?"

"Shut up," Ruby said. "I just meant, if you wanted to—"

Lacey was quiet for a moment. "I think I do," she said quietly.

"You're going to have to come down here, then," Ruby said. "I don't think we'll both fit on that couch."

"You're too tall for it anyway," Lacey said, getting up and moving so that she and Ruby were lying next to each other.

Ruby hesitated, then gently wrapped her arm around Lacey's waist. There was still so much space between them, a vast ocean, but then Lacey relaxed and leaned her head against Ruby's neck and everything made sense again.

They didn't talk for a long time, and Ruby was almost asleep when Lacey spoke again. "Hey," she asked, turning so that her head was facing Ruby's. "Do you think it'd be weird if I kissed you right now?"

"Probably," Ruby said. Her eyes flicked to Lacey's lips, then back up.

"Bad weird?"

"No," Ruby said, feeling a strange lurch in her stomach that she hadn't experienced since her crush on Peter. "I don't think so."

"Good," Lacey said, leaning in, and for the third time that night, their lips met. This time there was no audience, nothing to prove, and Ruby found herself sinking into a kiss that was much more tender than she could have envisaged. It didn't last as long as the others had, but they had chosen it, and that made it special in a way the others hadn't been.

When Lacey pulled away, Ruby put a hand on her face to keep her close and asked, "What are we doing?"

"I don't know," Lacey said, stroking Ruby's wrist with her fingers.

"It's way too soon for you to start dating, isn't it?"

Lacey shrugged. "It'd probably be a bad idea."

Ruby nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from Lacey's face. "But?"

"How do you know there even is a but?" Lacey asked, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe I really do think it's a bad idea."

"Oh." Ruby moved her hand away. "You're probably right."

"You know what else was a bad idea?" Lacey asked. She slid her hand into Ruby's, sending her reeling into confusion. "Deciding not to wear a bra to prom."

"I don't remember seeing you at prom," Ruby said, frowning. She looked down at their enjoined hands.

"That's because I showed up late and by the time I got there you were already puking your guts out in the parking lot."

Ruby winced. "I pre-gamed a little too hard that nigh. I remember now."

"Right. And my boob slipped out of the top of my dress and everyone saw and my only source of comfort was that you weren't there to make fun of me."

"I wouldn't have made fun of you!" Ruby said, tearing her eyes back to Lacey's face. Lacey just gave her a look. "Okay, I probably would have, but that's just because I was always jealous of you."

Lacey frowned. "You were jealous of me?"

"Pretty much always, yeah. You were always trying to one-up me or show you could do things better than me." Hadn't Lacey known all of this? It had been the basis of her interactions over the last thirteen years. How could she not have known?

"I wasn't trying to one-up you," Lacey said quietly. "I was trying to impress you."

"What?" Ruby asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "You—wanted to impress me?"

"Ever since kindergarten. I wanted to be friends with you, and I thought if I could make you see how great I was you would like me. I guess it turned into one-upping later on when it was clear that you hated me, but mostly I just wanted you to think I was cool."

"Shit," Ruby said, exhaling sharply. "I really fucked that one up, didn't I?"

"I did too," Lacey said, and how could she be so calm, when everything she was saying was destroying Ruby's concept of how things had been between them? "I should probably get to the point of the story. There _was_ one, I wasn't just trying to remind you how terrible prom was."

"I bet you were just trying to get me to think about your boobs," Ruby joked, trying to alleviate whatever it was that was making this conversation so name important.

"Like you aren't always thinking about my boobs," Lacey said smugly. "And no. My point was that we both make stupid choices all the time. And if I'm going to make bad choices, I think I'd like for you to be one of them."

Ruby's heart started racing. "Very romantic," she joked, still trying to keep things light.

"If you're looking for romance, date Mulan," Lacey said. "But if you want someone to rock your world—"

"Shut up," Ruby said. She was hyperaware of her body, could feel her pulse in her ears. "I'm about to ask you out and I don't want you to miss it."

"Oh," Lacey said with a tiny smile. "Okay. I'm ready."

Ruby took a deep breath. Their hands were still entwined, so she squeezed Lacey's, unsure of which one of them she was trying to comfort. "Lacey Isabelle French, will you do me the great honor of going on a for-real date with me next Friday, because I don't have any evenings off before then?"

"I can't believe you remember my middle name," Lacey laughed. "Are you sure you haven't been secretly pining over me for years?"

"Hey, you're the one who spent years trying to impress me. So will you go out with me?" Ruby asked. She knew the answer but she needed to be sure, needed to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was happening.

"Counter-offer," Lacey said. "We make out until we pass out from exhaustion, then when we wake up we pretend we still hate each other to mess with the others but then we'll leave together to go get brunch and maybe make out in your car for a bit." The look on her face was so mischievous that Ruby burst out laughing.

"Sounds complicated," she said once she had caught her breath. "I'm in."

Even in the dark, Lacey's smile was the most beautiful thing Ruby had ever seen. "I'm glad you don't really hate me," she whispered, a ghost of a kiss gracing Ruby's lips. "I have this crazy feeling that you're going to be the best mistake I've ever made."

Ruby kissed her with everything she had.


End file.
